County water district approves 8 percent hike over 2-year period

Despite more than 1,000 online posts against a rate hike, the Alameda County Water District board voted Thursday to raise customers’ bills by 8 percent over the next two years.

Water board members also approved an emergency pricing schedule that could result in boosted water rates if the board were to declare a water shortage, such as during a drought.

The vote was 4-1, with board Vice President Judy Huang voting against the increases, as she preferred to raise bills only 6 percent over the same period.

The newly approved increases come from a 4 percent bump in water rates as well as fixed service charges, which will take effect March 1. Both will again increase by 4 percent on March 1, 2020.

Water district staff said increases are needed to cover infrastructure costs as well as salary increases, benefits and pensions for

its employees.

The district serves roughly 350,000 people across Fremont, Newark, and Union City, and manages about 900 miles of water mains.

The average residential customer, who the district said currently pays about $120 every two months, will have to fork over about $130 by March 1, 2020. Nearly every year over the past two decades, the district has raised rates, including a 25 percent hike between 2017 and 2018.

Before Thursday’s increases, the district already had raised fixed service charges for residential customers by about 354 percent between 2010 and 2018, according to an analysis of the district’s financial reports by this news organization.

The board heard from 14 people at the meeting opposed to the water rate increases. They objected to

the emergency rate schedule that gives the board authority to increase water rates between 47 cents and $4.41, depending on the severity of a water shortage.

“No matter how much we try to conserve, we are being punished, and the water company gets the same amount of money,” Nadia Naum-Stoian of Fremont told the board.

“This is not fair,” she said.

Some also complained that the service charge makes up an unreasonably large amount of their total water bill.

“I think the water district and the water industry has done a terrible job over the years explaining to the community and its customers what you’re paying for in your water bill,” Robert Shaver, the district’s general manager, said in response to concerns from speakers at the meeting.

He emphasized that while water is essentially free because it “falls out of the sky,” customers are paying for the service of having clean water, reliably available

from their taps every day.

“And the cost to the water district to provide that level of service is almost the same whether you choose to open the tap and use that water or not,” he said.

He also said water rates are increasing higher than the inflation rate both locally and nationally because of aging infrastructure that needs replacing.

“Most of that pipeline was built in the ’60s, ’70s,

and ’80s. The expected service life of the pipeline is 75 years,” he said of the district’s underground utilities.

“So there’s going to be a lot of construction in the streets over the next 10, 20, 30 years. And we’ll never be finished. It’s like painting the Golden Gate Bridge.”

The district also has said it needs the extra money to pay for salary increases and pensions and benefits debt

of nearly $120 million.

Two years ago, the board voted to pay off that entire fund within 20 years, but with the new bill increases, the district intends to speed that pace to 15 years.

The district will pay larger sums toward that unfunded liability up front, but Shaver and district staff reports said it could save the district almost $45 million in the long run.

Slava Raysberg of Fremont said board meetings where rate hikes are considered are “useless,” because she feels the board doesn’t listen to customer concerns.

“People complain, people applaud, you do the same thing,” she told the board. “You raise the rates, and you raise the service charge. Everything goes up.”

Huang later addressed that criticism, saying the board does listen to and makes changes based on the comments heard from customers at meetings.

“We do hear you, I do hear you, and we’ll keep on making changes, so please keep on coming,” she said. “You’re not wasting your time.”

In a subsequent vote at the same meeting, the board unanimously approved increasing the amount of a customer assistance program called “Help on Tap,” from a $20 credit on every bimonthly bill to $25 for single-family home water users who meet a low-income threshold.